Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Places Books have Made Me Want to Visit

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish for folks who like books and lists both of which are obviously awesome.  This week's topic is the ten places books have made me want to go. I like to travel and here are a few places that books have played an instrumental role in developing my interest in them. 

1)  Narnia:  This was the very first thing that popped into my head because ever since reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I have always had a tiny little hope that any door that I open will be the door to Narnia.  Someday. 

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”- C.S. Lewis

Bulgarian Mountains

2) Eastern Europe (particularly Bulgaria) and Turkey: This desire was sparked by The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I honestly don't remember about this book and liked it a solid 3 out of 5 stars - nothing spectacular.  It's sort of a DaVinci code like quest involving vampires and such.   Despite my relatively blah feelings about the book over all,  it really made me wish to visit Eastern Europe and Istanbul which I can't say I had much interest in previously.

3) Greece: I was obsessed with Greek Mythology as a kid, especially with the book above.  I have always wanted to visit Greece as a result.

4) Camelot:  In a similar vein as the above, I have always loved the Arthurian Legends probably starting with The Once and Future King by T.H. White followed by everything about Arthur that I could get my hands on.  I have been lucky enough to have fulfilled this desire and have visited the place that is claimed to be "Camelot" (an old wall in the middle of a cow pasture) and I believe all of the sites in England associated with the legends.

5) A Napoleonic War Era British Sailing ship:  This rather odd one is inspired by the Aubrey and Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.  I know that the ships would be crowded, stinking and incredibly dangerous but these books made me wish so badly to be a part of Jack Aubrey's crew.  Even though I am a woman and that would have been weird at the time. 

6) Australia:  I can't say this book was the sole reason for me wishing to visit Australia but it sure made my desire keener AND it's actually a travelogue.  Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country. This is another place that I have actually had the opportunity to visit. Blue Latitudes by Tony Horowitz is also a great non-fiction book that touches on Australia through a focus on Captain James Cook's adventures. 

7) The Outer Hebrides, Shetland and Orkney Islands:  This is a recent place added to the list after I read The Blackhouse by Peter May earlier this year.  This book was set on the Outer Hebrides and didn't exactly paint them as a barrel of fun but nevertheless I was intrigued and when looking them up on a map, I also started exploring the other islands off of Scotland's north coast.  

There are a lot of other places I'd like to go but I think that's all the book inspired places I can think of for now.  What about you?